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Clinton Trump Detective Genius #3

To Kill A Shocking Bard

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When Upper Goosing’s premier poet, Percy Bishe, expires after scoffing a jumbo cream horn in the Tourist Trap café, foul puff-pastry play is immediately suspected. However, there’s a not-so-sweet surprise in store for Detective Inspector Clinton Trump, when his newly promoted deputy, Sergeant Dinkel, is handed the case and Clinton is left on the side-lines like a piece of stale shortbread. Will our detective genius manage to muscle his way into the investigation? Is Sergeant Dinkel up to the task of tracking down the bard’s killer? And will the murderer get his just deserts? Find out, in this final, lip-smacking Clinton Trump Detective Genius adventure!

The 3rd and final novel in the ‘Clinton Trump Detective Genius’ series

All tremendous trilogies must come to end and Clinton Trump signs off in style in this crazy literary-themed murder-mystery farce that lovers of great comedy and bad poetry will love more than Shakespeare loved a good rhyming couplet. Set in the autumn of 2019, when the murderers of Upper Goosing weren’t under lockdown and were still able to venture outside without wearing face masks, this is almost certainly the most chaotic, and funniest, detective story you have ever downloaded to your kindle. To buy or not to buy? What a silly question!

A Word from Detective Inspector Clinton Trump:

“Greetings, quality literature lovers. It’s been more than a year between my second and third adventures but I hope you’ll agree it’s worth the wait. You’ll encounter a lot of familiar characters in “To Kill A Shocking Bard” plus one or two new individuals – not all of whom are killed off in the first few chapters. And for your information, I am now dating. I know this will come as a shock to many of you but the charms of Brokenshire’s top criminologist Josephine Savage proved too much for this confirmed bachelor and we are now stepping out together. I’m informed that a lot of single ladies read my books and many may be upset by this news. But please remember, ladies, that there is someone out there for everyone. And, if you’re really lucky, they won’t have been murdered yet. Anyway, stay safe and keep writing those letters to Her Majesty recommending I be given a knighthood. It can’t be long now."

216 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 27, 2020

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4 people want to read

About the author

Paul Mathews

13 books56 followers
Paul Mathews is a quite funny British guy whose sharp, satirical - often surreal - sense of humour has been honed during half a century of not taking life too seriously. He gains inspiration from his love of good food, tea, four-legged animals & the quirks and quibbles of British life. Visit his website at www.quitefunnyguy.com. Or not. Whatever.

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5 stars
12 (54%)
4 stars
6 (27%)
3 stars
3 (13%)
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1 (4%)
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
20 reviews
May 5, 2020
I am a bit of a fan of Paul Mathews’ books. Not to be confused with serious literature, Mathews’ work is purely for entertainment – funny, good natured, silly in the best of British humor tradition. Reading a Mathews book is relaxing and puts me in a good mood before lights out.
Set in Upper Goosing, Brokenshire, England (voted European Murder Destination of the Year 2015), this is the mystery of the death-by-pastry of locally famous poet Percy Bishe. (Those who vaguely remember their high school English Lit class will find that name vaguely familiar.) Clinton Trump, who regards himself as Southeast England’s greatest detective, is vain, narcissistic, and quite lovable is his innocent cluelessness. He and his equally likable but clueless supporting characters eventually blunder their way to more or less accidentally solving the mystery.
But moving from a murder to catching the murderer is really just a vehicle for getting from the start of a very funny book to it’s finish. It’s really the characters themselves and the silly things they say and do in their proper English village fashion that make the book so much fun to read. As with Mathews’s earlier books, there is hardly a line that isn’t humorous, or outright comedic.
Despite the genius detective’s name, this is not at all a political book. Clinton Trump’s ego and narcissism was surely inspired by our American President’s outsized personality, but nothing else in the book has anything to do with the real world.
Shocking Bard is, sadly, the last of the Clinton Trump, genius detective, trilogy. But I hope he will return one day. The book can easily be enjoyed on it’s own, but I suggest reading the first two as well, preferably in order. But there are plenty of laughs to be had in whatever order.
Profile Image for Steven.
Author 5 books29 followers
May 16, 2020
To Kill a Shocking Bard brings the Clinton Trump detective trilogy to a close in spectacular style. Local poet Percy Bishe dies in mysterious circumstances, chowing down on his last ever jumbo cream horn during a poetry night in the Tourist Trap Cafe. Fingers are pointed in every direction. Is the baker guilty? The proprietress of the cafe losing customers whenever the poetry group meets? Was it rival poet Byron Lourdes? Or could the culprit be any one of a number of possible suspects with the slightest of reasons to kill him off?

Sergeant Dinkel takes charge of the heinous murder much to the disgust of Detective Inspector Clinton Trump, Sout East England’s greatest investigator. While Dinkel heads out to investigate Upper Goosing’s latest murder, the bumbling detective stumbles his way through his own efforts to grab the glory all for himself. As the two cases converge through mishap and fluke another deadly situation befalls the investigative partners.

The third and final book in the trilogy rounds things off nicely. It’s full of comedic events and black humour as per the first two books in the series. The bumbling investigators and the outrages twists make this an entertaining read. There are plenty of little references to Paul Mathews’ We Have Lost series of books, and to himself, always in a humorous and self deprecating manner.

Though vastly different to the We Have Lost series, the Clinton Trump trilogy have been entertaining, silly, dark and enjoyable in equal measure. With Mathews moving on to a new series with new characters, I look forward to seeing what he produces next.
Profile Image for Bonnie Dale Keck.
4,677 reviews58 followers
January 11, 2021
Kindle unlimited

His main character is named Clinton Bush (redacted) Trump, and he is much as one would expect, well depending on political party. The writer is still brit, so I am sure some thing go over my head, much the same as things go over Clinton Trumps'.
Profile Image for Jan C..
Author 1 book2 followers
April 29, 2020
Mathews’ egotistical Detective Inspector Clinton Trump is all set to investigate yet another suspicious death in the village of Upper Goosing. This time, though, rather than lording it over his underling Dinkel, he finds himself set aside while Dinkel nervously takes on his first case as lead detective. Hilarity ensues.

The Clinton Trump stories feature heavy lampooning of a certain blond head of state in North America. The character’s outrageous narcissism almost, as you might put it, trumps the mystery. The characters, all posturing and full of themselves, gave me chuckle after chuckle. Not to mention nearly all of them could have been the guilty party!

This story is definitely more of a romp than the “We Have Lost...” series, which I enjoyed immensely. Although this trilogy is less my personal cup of Earl Grey, I gave it four stars because Mathews does this style very well. If you like caricature, hyperbole, and slapstick, you’ll want to read this book.
NOTE: I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews

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